Traveling the Same Path
by Ryan Griffin
Summary: My Pokemon series. New Trainer...self insertion (is immediately pelted by tomatoes)...OKAY! But just read it. I tried. Co-written by Eric Lastnamenotgiven.
1. Episode 1: A Beginning In Pallet Town

This is my first fanfiction ever. This was co-written with my friend and partner-in-crime Eric. I hope you like it!****

**"Traveling the Same Path" Episode 101: A Beginning in Pallet Town**   
****

It was a beautiful sunset. The last day that Craig, Ryan, and Eric had to endure schooling for soon to be Pokemon trainers. They had all turned ten years old by now, and were to receive their Pokemon license tomorrow, along with the standard starting Pokemon from Professor Oak's lab, the Pokemon professor from Pallet.   
The bell, with its sweet sound of freedom, rang clear throughout the school. Eric and Ryan, the two best students in the three-person tutoring session, tore like hell to get home and prepare for the long journey ahead.   
"Whew, Ryan. Class is finally over!" said Eric.   
"I know. I'm not trying to be mean to the professor or anything, but I had to struggle to get an A," said Ryan.   
"What?! But you always were our class valedictorian! How did you struggle?"   
"I struggled to stay awake."   
"Sleepover at your house again?" asked Eric.   
"Count on it."   
However, they immediately ran back to class, because they forgot to ask who was going to pick their Pokemon first tomorrow.   
Craig stayed behind, to talk to his grandfather, who was Professor Oak. He wanted to persuade him to, er, raise his trainer class.   
"Grandpa, I know there were rumors that the Pokemon League has the power to grant you with any Pokemon that you wish to have, because this is Pallet's only Pokemon Center and Trainer School."   
"Yes, Craig," Professor Oak said, "I can write up a form using E-mail and request the temporary use of any Pokemon I may need."   
"Well," Craig said, reaching his point "I was sorta wondering if, maybe, instead of getting a wimpy starting Pokemon, if you can write up the League and have them give me a Mewtwo?"   
Oak looked at his grandson as if he had three heads.   
Oak, as if feigning calmness said, "Craig, out of all the people that I have ever met, I cannot believe that…"   
Then he exploded "I don't believe that you, of all people, would ask me to manipulate the system! When I say that I can get any Pokemon, I mean for experimental purpose! And as for the Mewtwo, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE MEWTWO! I mock your Mewtwo handling abilities."   
Craig looked at his uncle like he was Satan himself.   
"What you just asked me to do was immoral, unjust, and illegal. Now, for your punishment…"   
At that moment, Eric and Ryan, out of breath, burst through the door.   
"*Pant, pant* We *huh* forgot *huh* to see who is going first *huff*"   
Then, he noticed Craig was there.   
Craig and Ryan had been enemies ever since Ryan moved to Pallet Town from the Cinnabar Islands. They had been competitive at everything.   
Their hatred for one another seemed to electrify the building.   
Finally, Eric said, "I'm picking up on some tension here."   
That was the understatement of the year.   
Then, Professor Oak answered Ryan's question, "I've decided that you, Ryan would go first, Eric, you will go second. And as for you, Craig, you will take whichever Pokemon is left, whether you like it or not."   
Craig skulked out of the room, muttering a few impolite words.   
Then Eric gives Ryan a high five.   
Later, at Ryan's house, they discuss which Pokemon to choose. Ryan and Eric were in his bedroom, watching a movie and paying no attention to it whatsoever. CJ, Ryan's golden retriever, was sitting on Ryan's bed. CJ had been a gift from a zoologist. Golden retrievers were animals, so they weren't common. And the Pokemon equivalent, Goldiegirl, was extinct.   
"Eric, which Pokemon do you want?" said Ryan.   
"Well, it doesn't really matter to me. Either Bulbasaur or Charmander," answered Eric.   
"Yeah, I agree with you. Squirtle stinks. Out of all three Pokemon, I like Bulbasaur the best. It totally rocks."   
"I know, but I wish they had Abra or Drowzee as one of the starters."   
Eric had a few underdeveloped psychic abilities due to him studying Pokemon's strengths and weaknesses. As a result, he never really got a chance to harness his powers.   
"I really wish Growlithe or Seel were one of the starters."   
Ryan sometimes volunteered at a nature reserve in a nearby town. It had millions of wild Pokemon and the last remaining group of terrestrial animals. His favorite Pokemon resembled animals that he liked to work with.   
All of a sudden Ryan thought of an idea.   
"Hey Eric, I just thought of something…"   
"Wait, don't tell me. Ummmmmm…" Eric started to concentrate, "You want Craig's Pokemon to be weak against yours, so you want… Squirtle. And you want me to choose…Bulbasaur."   
"Um, well, not exactly…"   
Ryan told Eric his master plan and he agreed. So they decided to sleep on it.   
The next day, All three students were waiting at Oak's lab. Ryan was jumping up and down, waiting till when Oak would open the door. When he did, Ryan ran into the lab… and into the bathroom. Afterwards, Oak led them to the podium, where there were three Pokeballs, one green, one red, and one blue.   
"Oak really is color coordinated," Eric whispered to Ryan.   
"Now," Professor Oak said "I don't think that you're stupid, so you can guess which Pokeball holds which Pokemon. Ryan, you're first."   
Ryan approached the podium and took… the green Pokeball.   
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
He threw the Pokeball towards the ground, and out came Bulbasaur, a plant Pokemon that resembled a frog with a bulb on its back.   
"Bulbasaur!" it called out.   
"Okay, Eric, you're next," Oak said.   
Ryan recalled Bulbasaur as Eric reached the podium.   
Craig was thinking to himself _If Eric picks Squirtle, then I get Charmander. Then I'll be able to beat Ryan. Pick Squirtle, Eric. Please pick Squirtle._   
As if to mock Craig, he started to reach for Squirtle…and went right past it and grabbed the red Pokeball.   
"Charmander, go!"   
Out came Charmander, which resembled an upright lizard with a flame on its tail.   
"Char, Char," it replied   
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Craig silently screamed. "You son of a %$*#^!"   
Eric turned around, "What did you call me?"   
"Char?" his Pokemon echoed.   
"You heard me you &@%^@$*. You go to $%##. You go to $%## when you die," Craig screamed.   
"Well," Eric said, "You've just earned yourself another rival." He threw Squirtle's Pokeball at Craig. He caught it. "Have a miserable life."   
Craig fumed and stomped out of the lab, remembering to snag a Pokedex and a generous amount of both red and blue lined Pokeballs.   
Eric and Ryan also take their Pokedexes and Pokeballs. Oak bid them farewell.   
Ryan set his bag to backpack mode. He had gotten a complementary aerobag from serving 500 hours of volunteer work at the reserve. It was a duffel bag that was hooked up to an online storage system, so that he could pull out whatever he might need.   
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," and Eric, with his Charmander, walked down the steps of the lab.   
"Eric," Ryan called out, "Wait!"   
"Yeah."   
"Listen, if we go our separate ways, then eventually, we'll be enemies. I'm thinking…"   
"Wait, don't tell me, Umm, why would you want to team up with Craig, he's a low-down son of a…"   
"No, no, no. I want to team up with you."   
"Oh. That's different. Of course I will. We're best buds. Of all the friends I've had… you're the first, but can we stop by Craig's house?"   
"Why?"   
"So we can get a map from his mom. She gives out free maps to Pokemon trainers, not to mention some excellent chocolate chip cookies", _And so that we can TP Craig's room._   
"Okay, let's go!"   
An hour later, they were completely packed and on the road. Charmander had been recalled. Eric had found from his map that the closest way to get to Viridian City was by means of Route 1. The only Pokemon on the route were Pidgeys and Rattattas, but they were at a low enough level that the duo made stand a chance against them.   
After a minute of crawling through some bushes, Ryan had flushed out a level 5 Pidgey.   
"Yes, a Pidgey! I always wanted one!"   
Ryan was fond of birds.   
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
Bulbasaur came out with a loud "Bulba!"   
"Bulbasaur, Tackle attack, now!"   
The flower frog pounced on the small bird, which quickly got up and performed a gust attack.   
"Bulbasaur, growl, weaken the gust's blast!"   
A resounding "SAUR!" seemed to shake the ground, and caused the tornado's effects to weaken.   
"Bulbasaur, one last tackle!"   
Bulbasaur's last attack caused Pidgey to nearly faint.   
"Pokeball, go!" Ryan cried as he pitched a red-lined Pokeball towards Pidgey. The ball hit Pidgey, opened up, transformed Pidgey into a red light, and drew Pidgey in.   
The ball wiggled…   
And wiggled…   
And wiggled…   
Until finally…   
DING! The Pokeball seemed to shout out that Pidgey was caught.   
"Yeah! I caught Pidgey! My second Pokemon! Bulbasaur, return"   
Meanwhile, Eric had encountered a Rattata and he called forth his Pokemon.   
"Charmander, go!"   
"CHARRRRR!"   
"Charmander, Scratch attack, now!"   
Charmander clawed at the rat Pokemon, while it engaged a Tail Whip.   
"Scratch it again"   
As Rattata started a Tackle attack, Charmander dodged and scratched it again.   
"One last scratch should do it."   
The lizard Pokemon gave it another scratch, but Rattata faints in the process.   
"Char?" Charmander said, confused.   
"Charmander grew to level 6" the Pokedex stated.   
"Well, that's good."   
Eric and Ryan regroup and head to Viridian. Their first stop is the Pokemon Center. Sitting at the desk is Nurse Joy, a pink-haired nurse that runs the rejuvenator machine.   
"Hello Nurse, uh, Joy," Eric said as he read the name tag Nurse Joy was wearing, "I was wondering if you could help us out. You see *sniff* *sniff* ACK!!!"   
Eric realized that Charmander accidentally lit one of the plants near the front desk on fire. Eric kicked the plant pot down and started to stomp out the fire. After completely snuffing out the flames, Eric started to give Charmander a lecture on being careful where you stick your tail. Suddenly, Charmander fainted! Eric heard a loud growl emanating from Charmander's stomach.   
"Hmmm," Eric said, "He must be hungry."   
"It doesn't take a psychic to figure that out," Ryan wisecracked.   
Nurse Joy ran to Charmander's side.   
"This poor Pokemon," Nurse Joy interrupted, "You're a lousy trainer!"   
"What did I do?" Eric said, puzzled.   
"How could you starve you Charmander until it got in this condition?"   
"First of all miss I did not STARVE Charmander."   
"That's right! Charmander was well fed when we left, so was Bulbasaur!" Ryan interrupted.   
"SHUT UP! Don't interrupt me! Uh hum. And second of all, it's our first day. And lastly, we came to you for help and put out a fire and THIS is what we get as SERVICE!?" Eric screamed.   
Nurse Joy was visibly appalled and aghast at Eric's rude behavior.   
"Uh excuse me, fellow trainer, Poke Nurse, we just want all of our Pokemon healed up and then we'll leave." Ryan said, trying to stop the conflict.   
Nurse Joy took Charmander to the Emergency room and then a Chancy came and put Bulbasaur and Pidgey's Pokeballs to the rejuvenator machine.   
"Well it's getting dark," Eric said to his comrade, "We better hit the hay."   
The duo found a place to sleep and bid each other a "Buenos Noches."   
The next day, Ryan woke up to a very loud "Yes!" He looked to Eric's bed to find he wasn't there. He also checked the ER. Charmander wasn't there.   
He found Eric out in the bushes holding up a Pokeball proudly. Charmander was jumping up and down with glee.   
Eric finally ran to Ryan.   
"I got a Pokemon!" Eric exclaimed.   
"*Yawn* which one?" Ryan replied, still a bit sleepy.   
"A Spearow!" Eric answered.   
"Well, well, well. Look who's playing with baby Pokemon." A familiar voice mocked.   
"Oh no. Look Eric. It's the class creep." Ryan retorted sarcastically.   
"HA! While you dunderheads were out in the bushes collecting weakling Pokemon, not to mention ticks, I got here hours before you two!" Craig said.   
"So how many Pokemon do you got?"   
"Er, uh hm. Just one." Craig sort of muttered.   
"And what level is that *snicker* *snicker* sorry excuse for a Squirtle at?" Eric said, chuckling.   
"It's at level 5 still but I bet my Squirtle is much tougher than your gay Charmander!" Craig said looking at Charmander, "That's right I'm talking about YOU! You probably like that queer Bulbasaur of Ryan's!"   
Charmander knew that it was insulted. Out of anger Charmander scratched Craig a couple of times.   
Then Squirtle came out and tackled Charmander into a nearby lake.   
"NO!" Eric yelled as he dived into the lake to save his drowning Pokemon.   
"Eric you fool! You can't swim either!" Ryan yelled to his friend.   
Upon this, Ryan, who had once swam against the strong currents of Cinnabar Island, saved the drowning trainer and Pokemon.   
Charmander passed out before it could thank Ryan.   
"ALL RIGHT, THAT'S IT! No one but NO ONE nearly drowns my friend and his Charmander! All right, you dirty piece of white trash! Pokemon battle right here, right now! You and me!" Ryan yelled.   
Don't do it! Please stop the fighting! Eric telepathically said to his eager friend.   
"That's all right, I won't make a cop start writing, but I will beat Craig into next Tuesday." Ryan said to his fallen friend, not getting his message as clearly as he'd hoped.   
"All right, Squirtle go!" Craig yelled.   
"Squirtle!" the turtle Pokemon yelled.   
"Ok, Pidgey I choose you!" Ryan yelled.   
"Prrrrr-idgey," the tiny hawk cooed.   
"Squirtle, tackle"   
"Pidgey, sand attack"   
Pidgey blew a sand cloud over Squirtle, as it tried to tackle it. Squirtle failed to tackle Pidgey.   
"Pidgey, Gust" Ryan called.   
As Squirtle tried to blow away the sand, Pidgey blew Squirtle into a tree. Squirtle miraculously survives.   
"Pidgey, return. Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
"Bulbasaur" the flora/fauna Pokemon called out.   
"Bulbasaur, tackle it"   
Bulbasaur rushed Squirtle and collided into it. Squirtle was blown over the trees and landed in a patch of mud forty feet away.   
Craig, fuming, screeched "You haven't seen the last of me. I'm going to get Pokemon and totally cream you. You haven't seen the last of me. Not by a long shot."   
Craig went off fuming.   
"That wasn't necessary," Eric said, after Craig had left.   
"Yes, it was. Necessary experience points, and…" he picked up some money left by Craig "necessary money. I won my first trainer battle. And it was against my worst enemy. Also, it was defending you and Charmander."   
"Speaking of which, we should rush Charmander back to the ER," Eric said, "Oh, one more thing."   
"What?"   
"You do the talking."   
Ryan chuckled, and they raced to the Pokemon Center only ten yards away, but it seemed like ten miles. Meanwhile, Charmander had regained consciousness. In that brief moment, he saw Ryan. As he looked, he held a look of gratitude, a look of respect, and most importantly, a look of friendship. As he looked, for about three seconds, he thought, _you truly are my friend._   
That was his last thought before sinking back into unconsciousness.   
  



	2. Episode 2: Team Rocket Attacks

Next fanfic in the series. Think it's much better. Also written by me and my friend Eric. Enjoy!****

**Traveling the Same Path 102: Team Rocket Attacks**

The duo ran to the Pokemon Center, Charmander in Ryan's arms, Ryan running for Charmander's life, Eric struggling to keep up. Ryan usually didn't do to well physically, but when he had to, he could run.   
Ryan and Eric, two new Pokemon trainers from Pallet Town, were in a huge emergency. Their rival, Craig, used his Squirtle to exact revenge on Eric. Craig was in a snit because, after Ryan picked Bulbasaur, Eric picked Charmander so Craig would be at Ryan's disadvantage with Squirtle. Squirtle tackled Charmander into a lake and Eric and Charmander nearly drowned. Ryan used his Pidgey and Bulbasaur to blow Squirtle into another time zone, but now, they had to save Charmander, who was going in and out of consciousness.   
Ryan banged right into the center and ranged the bell, not noticing that he broke through the glass door.   
Nurse Joy ran up and said "What is the matter with you, young man? Can't you see that-"   
"Nurse Joy," Ryan interrupted, "no time. My friends Charmander was thrown into a lake by another trainer's Squirtle."   
"Oh my," she said, realizing the condition of Charmander, "we need to get it to ER, STAT."   
A Chansey came up and put Charmander on stretcher. It then rushed it to the emergency room.   
Eric, still tired from the mad dash to the Pokémon Center, asked, "Nurse Joy (huff, puff). Is there **ANYTHING** that I can do to help?"   
Nurse Joy said in an angry voice, "Well you can start by taking better care of your Pokemon."   
"What do you mean?" I said.   
"You don't battle your Pokémon until it's in this condition and…"   
"But…"   
"And you don't battle in a place that…"   
"But…"   
"You don't battle in a place that puts you Pokémon to a disadvantage."   
"Listen Nurse, we weren't battling," Ryan explained, "We were ambushed. Some guy we know insulted Eric's Charmander and then used his Squirtle to tackle it into a lake after Charmander assaulted our uh hmm acquaintance (if you can call him that)."   
A look of realization came over Nurse Joy's face. She covered her mouth with both hands and said,   
"Oh I'm so sorry I yelled at you. I thought that you did this on purpose."   
"Apology accepted," Eric said, "Uhh. Feel so… drained. I…"   
Suddenly Eric fainted and collapsed on the floor.   
"Uhh. He tried to save Charmander and nearly drowned because he forgot he couldn't swim," Ryan explained.   
Nurse Joy preformed CPR on Eric. He woke up and said,   
"My heroine." Eric then gave Nurse Joy a wet one.   
Ryan covered his eyes as he heard a loud smack. Nurse Joy ran behind the desk, wiped Eric's spit off her cheek, and stayed at least 10 feet away from Eric.   
Ryan then said, "That was not the best way to handle the situation."   
"Let me guess," Eric said to Nurse Joy, "You've never been kissed before. Don't worry I'll tell everyone else that you're untouchable."   
Ryan and Eric slept in the Pokémon center. The next day, Eric, Ryan, and Nurse Joy went to the regeneration chamber that Charmander was in and found out that Charmander had escaped. They looked up to see an open window.   
Nurse Joy said, "I've got to get rid of that window."   
Ryan said, "Dang straight."   
Then Ryan and Eric went to search for Charmander.   
"Hey, I've got an idea. Bulbasaur, Pidgey, I choose you both."   
The hawk and frog came out.   
"Bulbasaur, Pidgey, go look for Charmander."   
The two Pokemon did so. Soon after…   
"Bulba, Bulba, Bulbasaur!"   
"What is it Bulbasaur," Eric asked.   
"Saur," it pointed to a tree.   
Eric saw with horror what had happened. Charmander got into some hunter's trap. Charmander was hanging upside-down with it's tail in the air.   
"Char…" Charmander said as the blood was rushing to its head.   
Ryan came up and asked, "What is it?"   
Ryan saw Charmander and said, "Ohh."   
Then Eric jumped and grabbed a low tree branch.   
"What are you doing?" Ryan asked, "You're going to break your neck!"   
"Don't worry," Eric stated as he jumped to another branch, "I'll be fine."   
"Just don't look down," Ryan warned.   
Eric finally got to the branch that Charmander was hanging from. He untied it and let Charmander down slowly. Charmander looked very dizzy. Eric looked down and realized how far up he actually was.   
"Oh boy," Eric commented.   
Eric then jumped down and…   
Was caught by Bulbasaur's vines. Eric was set down and he picked up Charmander, who was still dizzy. The two trainers, thirsty for adventure went to the local gym. Unfortunately, a guard in front of the door said,   
"Sorry boys. The gym's closed. Now run along and go cry to mommy."   
Eric was infuriated and Ryan grabbed his arm just before Eric had a chance to punch the guard in the stomach.   
Ryan then said, "Come on Eric it's not that bad."   
Eric yelled, "**NOT THAT BAD? HE JUST INSULTED US! ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THAT FROM HIM?**"   
Ryan just smiled. A few seconds later the guard was screaming.   
"What's that smell? Ahh! Dang you kids! I'll get you for this!"   
Eric looked at Ryan who said, "I put a stink bomb down his pants."   
Eric had an idea as he saw a small fishing pond.   
Eric said to Ryan, "Can I borrow 300 dollars?"   
Ryan asked, " What for?"   
"It's a surprise," Eric thought for a minute, "What's your favorite water Pokémon?"   
"Seel, of course."   
"Okay then."   
Eric took Ryan's money and ran into a store. Just as fast, Eric came out with two fishing rods.   
"Here," Eric handed Ryan a fishing rod.   
"Cool, but what's it for?" Ryan asked.   
"It's a special rod for catching water Pokemon. I also got you this!" Eric held out a box of…   
Seel bait.   
"Keen beans! Let's go catch some Seels!" Ryan shouted.   
An hour later…   
"Eric, you caught anything yet?" Ryan shouted across the lake.   
"Haven't caught a dang thing!" Eric yelled.   
Suddenly, a tug came at Ryan's line.   
"All right, I caught something!" _Please let it be a Seel. Please let it be a Seel_. Ryan pleaded silently.   
Ryan raised the line, and, as luck would have it, on the other end was a level 13 Seel.   
"Yahoo!" Ryan shouted, "Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
Ryan threw a Pokeball and Bulbasaur came out.   
"Bulbasaur!" it cried   
"Bulbasaur, tackle!"   
Bulbasaur executed his tackle, and hit Seel with one blast. "Seeeeeeeeel!" it cried.   
"Go, Pokeball!" He threw a blue-lined Pokeball at Seel.   
The ball sucked Seel in.   
It wiggled…   
And wiggled…   
Until finally…   
DING!   
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! I caught Seel!"   
"Bulba" Bulbasaur smiled.   
"Great job Bulbasaur. Re… On second thought, stay out for a while."   
"Bulba?" it asked. It evidently did not think of coming out of its Pokeball.   
"You deserve a bit of time to relax outside, not cramped up in that ball"   
"Bulbasaur…" it said.   
Meanwhile, Eric, by sheer luck, had caught something.   
Unfortunately, he had just cast off, and unknowingly snagged his pants. When he started to reel in, he did a 360 midair somersault and landed straight into the water. When he got out, a sea horse like Pokemon squirmed out of his pants.   
"What's that?" It was the first Pokemon he had seen that he did not know.   
He flipped open his Pokedex.   
"Ding! Horsea, a dragon Pokemon. While it executes powerful water attacks, Horsea uses blots of ink to blind its opponents."   
"Hmm. I don't have a Pokemon that's strong against water, so, Pokeball, go!" He threw a red lined Pokeball at Horsea.   
The ball sucked Horsea in, but Horsea popped back out.   
"All right, Pokeball, go! Again!"   
The ball once again failed to capture Horsea.   
"Third times a charm!" Eric threw the ball again.   
It wiggled…   
And wiggled…   
And wiggled…   
And…DING!   
"All right! It worked this time!"   
"Hey Eric," Ryan said, "you got a water Pokemon?"   
"Yeah, it's called a Horsea."   
"Cool, I heard those were supposed to be good"   
"Bulbasaur!" cried Bulbasaur.   
"Yeah, let's head back to the center and heal these guys up, OK?" said Eric.   
"My mom gave me a pack of Hyper Potions before I left. I used one on Seel. I don't need to heal any of my three up, but I'll go with you."   
The two trainers and Bulbasaur headed back to the center. Eric hung out while Charmander, Spearow, and Horsea recharged. Ryan was showing Bulbasaur, Pidgey, and Seel some fighting tricks.   
"Pidgey, you've got to get Quick Attack exactly right or you'll never be up to your full level potential. Remember the three basics. 270 loop around, go for a critical spot, and clear out."   
The bird nodded.   
"Now, Bulbasaur, Pidgey, we're gonna do a 'practice match.' Bulbasaur, you and Pidgey are going to fight each other. Pidgey is going to win this battle because he has type advantage. But Bulbasaur, even though I want you to lose, I also want you to try your best. I want Pidgey to be able to win against a full, thrashing Bulbasaur. Seel, clear out. I don't want you caught in the crossfire. Get it? Got it? Good. Now let the games begin!"   
Bulbasaur and Pidgey got into position.   
Bulbasaur gave Pidgey a Vine Whip, it responded with a Gust.   
Bulbasaur used Tackle.   
Pidgey used Gust.   
Bulbasaur-Vine Whip.   
Pidgey-Quick Attack   
Bulbasaur-Leech Seed. Attack missed.   
Pidgey finished Bulbasaur off with a last Quick Attack.   
"Ding! Pidgey grew to level 14," Ryan's Pokedex said.   
"Good job Pidgey," Ryan said. He spotted a Chansey walking by. "Chansey!" Ryan yelled.   
"Chansey?" it asked.   
"Can you use your SoftBoiled to heal my Bulbasaur?"   
"Chansey!" It cried. Chansey took its egg, placed it over Bulbasaur, and the egg started to glow. Bulbasaur woke up, fully healed.   
"Wow, so that's what that egg's for. Okay. Thanks Chansey!"   
"Chansey!"   
"You okay Bulbasaur?"   
"Bulba," Bulbasaur said.   
Suddenly a flash of light came from a Pokeball and came out a … Charmander!   
"Char," it looked very confused, "mander?"   
Eric had sent Charmander out.   
"It's time," Eric said clearing his throat, "that you gain another level."   
"Eric!" Ryan yelled, "What in the blazes are you doing!?"   
"Come on!" Eric yelled, "Bring it on!"   
Ryan yelled back, "Are you mad!"   
Then Ryan knew what Eric wanted him to do. He called forth Bulbasaur.   
"All right," Eric said, "Charmander use your scratch attack!"   
Charmander started to scratch Bulbasaur on the face.   
"Bulbasaur use vine whip!" Ryan cried.   
Charmander was hit with the hard vines.   
Charmander then used its growl attack.   
Bulbasaur leech seeded it.   
Charmander accidentally ate the seeds. Vines started to grow and come out of Charmanders mouth, clogging its throat shut.   
"**NO!!!**!" Eric yelled.   
Charmander fell to the floor. Eric ran toward Charmander and picked him up.   
"Don't you die on me!" Eric yelled, "Don't you leave me!"   
Ryan ordered Bulbasaur to use its vine whip to pull out the seeds. Bulbasaur kept on pulling vines out of Charmander's mouth, but it seemed that every one vine Bulbasaur removed from Charmander's mouth, two seemed to take its place. Then the vines started to ignite in flames. Somehow the fire inside of Charmander's belly had erupted and ignited the vines.   
"Ding!" Eric's Pokedex had opened, "Charmander grew to level 9 and has learned Ember."   
"All right," Eric laughed in joy, "Charmander learned Ember from this near death experience."   
Charmander started to dance around, happy that it survived and that it gained a level plus a new attack.   
Then Eric rushed Charmander to the front desk of the Pokemon Center and gave him to Nurse Joy, just to be safe.   
"That was one heck of a battle," Eric exclaimed.   
"Yeah," Ryan said, "I'm sorry about Charmander."   
Before Eric could forgive Ryan, two Pokeballs crashed through the skylight above and out came an Ekans and Koffing.   
Koffing used its smokescreen attack to shroud their owners in a dark green mist.   
"Who are you?" Eric asked coughing from the gas.   
"Allow us to introduce ourselves," one of the ghastly apparitions said.   
"To protect the world from devastation," a female counterpart said.   
"To unite all peoples within our nation," the blue haired boy said.   
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."   
"To extent our reach to the stars above."   
"Jessie."   
"James."   
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."   
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."   
A cat jumped down and completed the poem by saying, "Meowth that's right."   
Jessie then pulled out a phaser like weapon and pointed it toward Ryan and Eric.   
Suddenly Nurse Joy ran out of the Emergency Room and yelled, "What is all this noise? I demand to know what is going on!"   
Jessie with Meowth like reflexes shot Nurse Joy with the phaser. It wasn't really lethal. It just made her twitch wildly, scream a lot, and pass out. Ryan and Eric quickly recalled their Pokemon.   
"We're here for the Pokemon, brats," Jesse said, "and believe it or not, that includes your duds."   
Jesse fired the phaser, but they dodged. Ryan put his Pokeballs in his aerobag and set it to lock as James pulled out a phaser and shot him. Eric, lacking an aerobag to put his Pokeballs in, was not as lucky.   
"Meowth, let's swipe dis' kid's stuff before he wakes up," Meowth said, pointing to Ryan.   
James holstered his phaser and took Ryan's aerobag. "It's locked," he said.   
"Do I hafta do everything myself here?" Meowth retracted a claw and tried to cut Ryan's aerobag open, but got electrocuted in the process.   
"I've got a better idea, (*Meowth*) let's leave the kid alone," Meowth said before fainting.   
"Oh James, I've managed to snag the Chinese kid's Pokemon," Jesse exclaimed.   
"That's great. Now, let's stuff these twerps in the hall closet and take all these others," James said. Both members grinned and proceeded to do so…   
Ryan woke up with a headache that rivaled that of a Psyduck's. "What happened?" he asked, as Eric started to wake up.   
"Hey!" Eric yelled, "Spearow, Horsea, and Charmander are all gone, and you don't have your…"   
At that point, Ryan pulled his three Pokemon.   
"I managed to save them before getting shot, hey what's this?" Ryan picked up a small cartridge labeled TM 12.   
There was a small slot on the cartridge that looked like a Pokeball would fit in. So, Ryan placed the button on Bulbasaur's Pokeball into the cartridge slot.   
"Bulbasaur is unable to learn the contained skill," his Pokedex said.   
Ryan tried Pidgey. "Pidgey is unable to learn the contained skill."   
He tried Seel, and the Pokedex said, "Seel is compatible with TM 12. Seel learned Water Gun."   
"That's a powerful move, and Seel's unable to learn it, how…?"   
"Oh, yeah, we talked about these the day you were out with measles. A 'TM' contains a skill, and by placing the Pokeball into the slot, it can learn a skill. This is one time only, unlike an 'HM' which can be learned by any amount of Pokemon."   
"Neato. Hold on, we need to get your Pokemon from those thieves."   
"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?"   
"First, we need to see what we're up against."   
Ryan took out his Pokedex. Eric's was taken.   
"Bravo," Ryan said, referring to his Pokedex's nickname, "Give us info on the three Pokemon Team Rocket had.   
"Scanning…Koffing, a gas Pokemon. By use of its many pores, it is able to spray poisonous gas.   
"Ekans, a snake Pokemon. Moves silently and its poison sting can put many kinds of Pokemon invalid for hours.   
"Meowth, a cat Pokemon. Its claws are incredibly sharp and its Fury Swipes attack is deadly."   
"Fury Swipes," Ryan said, "Well, we'd better get going, I have a plan…"   
Later…   
"Heeheehee!" James giggled as he stuffed Pokeball after Pokeball into a big sack. "After this stunt, the Boss will promote us to senior management!"   
"I can hear the Boss now, 'Jesse, James, you two are the greatest, smartest, strongest, and more importantly, most attractive new recruits Team Rocket had'" Jesse said, grinning.   
"Giovanni would never let youse morons inta the upper coicle, of which, I am an exclusive member. Now, S**WIPE EVERY LAST POKEBALL YOU IDIOTS GET YOUR HANDS ON!!!!!**"   
"Aye aye, sir!" the duo said, obviously afraid of the cat Pokemon.   
Meanwhile, Koffing and Ekans were just staying on guard duty. Koffing turned to his nearby vent nonchalantly. Suddenly, a blue flash screeched across the paneling.   
"Fing?" the gas Pokemon asked.   
Ekans ignored him for a bit, turning to the vent on his side, when an orange flash screeched across his paneling.   
'Ekans, Ekans!" the snake cried.   
While their masters were busy snatching a wall full of Pokeballs, Ekans and Koffing made an agreement to attack when the flashes returned. And the flashes did come back, in opposite sides.   
Ekans pounced on both panels and Koffing blew a Smokescreen. In the darkness, while Team Rocket was coughing their lungs out, Eric jumped out of his side in a blue flash and landed with the grace of a gazelle, and Ryan jumped out in an orange flash and fell flat on his face with the grace of a confused cow and got right back up.   
"Cough, cough, who's there?" asked Jessie.   
"Allow _us_ to introduce ourselves," Ryan said.   
"To protect the world from thieving crooks," Eric said.   
"To place our names in history books."   
"To denounce the evils that you uphold."   
"To make things right for the brave and bold."   
"Eric."   
"Ryan."   
"Team Master blasting off left and right."   
"We know that you will lose the fight."   
"That's right," they both said, with Bulbasaur jumping from behind them.   
"Bulbasaur," it said.   
Jessie and James were infuriated, and so was Meowth.   
"You copycats," Meowth said. "We worked so hard to swipe that motto, and you hadda swipe it."   
"You can't claim ownership on something you stole. And that reminds me, you have my friend's Pokemon. Hand 'em over."   
Jessie stuck out her tongue at Ryan and said, "No way you little bad attitude, Bulbasaur loving, oddly dressing (Referring to Ryan's orange jumpsuit, knee-high buckled boots, and rhinestone studded gloves), unattractive, In-duh-vidual moronic tree-hugger."   
Ryan's eyes seemed to catch on fire, "All right you little witch, no one insults Ryan Catcatch like that and gets away with it, especially such an ugly little @&%$# like yourself. You leave me with two choices. The hard way, and…um…and, uh…er, the, uh, other way that's…um…harder. But either way, back off, 'cause I'm gonna hurt you, man."   
"RRRRRRRRRR! Ekans, Koffing attack that ignorant kid!" Jessie yelled.   
"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"   
"Bulba!" it cried. The whips stopped Ekans and Koffing just short.   
"Pidgey, Seel! I choose you!"   
"Pidgey!" the bird cried   
"Seel, Seel!" the seal Pokemon cried.   
"Pidgey, Gust attack, Seel, Headbutt   
The two obeyed, joining Bulbasaur with their attacks.   
"Koffing, tackle it!" James cried.   
"Ekans, Poison Sting!" Jessie cried.   
"Everyone, fall back!" Ryan yelled. His Pokemon swiftly jumped back.   
"Seel, Water Gun. Pidgey, Gust. Bulbasaur, Leech Seed!" Ryan yelled.   
The Water Gun and Gust made their mark, and The Leech Seed seemed to have missed, but the vines spread out and grabbed Koffing, Ekans, Meowth, Jessie, and James. They slumped, their energy drained.   
"Hah! Weak as kittens, Especially that Meowth!" Ryan punned. "Bulbasaur, give it another Leech Seed, Pidgey, give it a Quick Attack after the seed is planted, and Seel, Water Gun to the extreme!"   
Meanwhile…   
_Okay,_ Eric thought as he searched through the sack, _Is Charmander in this one? No. Is this Spearow? No. Hey, it's Horsea! Or maybe it isn't. Dang, how do trainers tell which Pokeball holds which Pokemon?_   
Then suddenly, he had a brilliant idea, _I'll use my psychic powers to see which Pokeballs are mine._   
Eric put his fingers to his head and concentrated…   
And concentrated…   
And concentrated…   
And got a splitting headache, but still concentrated,   
And finally…   
Ding! Ding! Ding!   
Eric found, at the bottom of the sack, three Pokeballs, each with a miniscule picture of a Charmander, a Spearow, and a Horsea.   
"Finally," he said. Then, he passed out.   
Meanwhile…   
Team Rocket had really sunk low. They were prone, on the floor, Leech Seeded to the point where they couldn't stand up. And all the time, they were being pecked at, poked by Seel's horn, whipped, Gusted, tackled, and Water Gunned.   
Finally, Ryan said, "All right, it's time to take out the trash."   
"Huh?" Team Rocket responded.   
"Alright, you guys, brace yourselves, this is the big one. On three, Bulbasaur, Tackle, Pidgey, Quick Attack, and Seel, Headbutt. On three."   
Bulbasaur paced at the ground like a bull in a bullfight.   
"One…"   
Pidgey gained some altitude.   
"Two…"   
Seel lowered its head.   
"THREE!"   
The solid force of the combined attack of the three Pokemon sent Team Rocket through the wall of the Center and sent them through the sky.   
"Hey!" Ryan called. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off!"   
As he said this, they disappeared in the sky.   
"Eric, you okay?" Ryan asked his prone friend.   
Eric groaned. "What happened?" he asked.   
"Only… The coolest and most absolutely fantastic battle EVER! I wish I had it on tape.   
"You do," said Nurse Joy. "Your entire battle took place in sight of a surveillance camera. I can give you a copy of the tape right now."   
"Really? Excellent," said Ryan.   
"Just one thing I ask of you."   
"What?" Ryan asked.   
Nurse Joy grabbed him by the ear, "Leave the Center, stop, rewind, leave Viridian City _tomorrow_. Together, you and your friend, in three days, totally destroyed a fern, an ER bed table, a glass door, greatly disgusted me, and now, the entire back wall. Young man, the next time I see you, don't destroy anything, and make it in at least _three months_."   
"Okay, okay, jeez. We'll leave after tonight." _Lord, this is the thanks I get for saving the Pokeballs._   
"Oh, and one more thing, Ryan. I'd like to thank you for saving our Pokeballs from those robbers."   
"Er, You're welcome," Ryan said, "but there's one question. What types of Pokemon are in those Pokeballs?"   
"That's something I think you'll find very funny. Because every one of these Pokeballs are…empty."   
Ryan and Eric fell over backwards in a sign of frustration.   
"Great," Ryan said. "My first epic battle, and it's to keep an idiot team of Pokemon robbers from stealing a room full of empty Pokeballs. Great."   
"Well," Eric said, "You did save my Pokemon."   
"That is good," Ryan said, "But I wonder whatever happened to Team Rocket…"   
Meanwhile, a balloon resembling Meowth's head floated out a nearby forest.   
"Meowth," a highly bruised and foliage covered Meowth said, "I told ya I'd take care of everything. Nice balloon, eh?"   
"That kid," Jessie said, "is no ordinary trainer. And those aren't ordinary Pokemon."   
"Maybe he's got some magic touch or something. Maybe he can turn a Pokemon chump into a Pokemon champ," James offered.   
"Whatever 'dis kids got, we're gonna get it. Along with any and all Pokemon he might happen 'ta catch," Meowth declared.   
"Yes, we'll give special attention to that kid," Jessie said. "He'll be our little pet project. And we're gonna get him and his Pokemon."   
"Oh, and one more thing," Meowth said.   
"What?" both humans asked.   
"I happened 'ta hear that Ryan kid say sometin' 'ta the gist a 'Team Rocket's blasting off.' Seein' how youse like poetry so much, I thought ya might wanna use it."   
"Excellent, at least we have a retreat call," James said.   
"An one day," They all said, "we'll get that kid." 

  
  



	3. Episode 3: Eric's Hidden Fear

Third fic. Yet again co-written by me and Eric. Enjoy! 

**Traveling the Same Path 103: Eric's Hidden Fear**

It was a beautiful day out. The sun, the sky, the trees, and lastly, the bug Pokemon. For Ryan, it was a dream come true, for Eric, it was his worst nightmare. Eric hated bugs, mostly because he was psychic, and the Viridian Forest was crawling with bugs. But, Ryan mostly put Eric's cries for help at every Caterpie or Weedle he saw, and tried to enjoy the forest.   
_I hate bugs, I hate bugs, I hate bugs…_Eric silently chanted.   
"AAAGH, what's that!?" Eric cried.   
"That's a shadow of a tree branch," Ryan calmly said.   
"Oh, WHAT WAS THAT!!??"   
"What was what?"   
"I thought I saw something rustling in the bushes."   
Then, a Pidgeotto jumped from the bushes.   
"Eric, it's just a Pidgeotto," said Ryan.   
"Okay, this should be a piece of cake," Eric, returning to his normal, fearless self, pushed Ryan aside.   
Eric threw a Pokeball, out came Charmander.   
"Charmander, Ember now!"   
"Char, Char," a ball of fire grew from Charmander's tail, hit the Pidgeotto, spread over Pidgeotto's body, and burned it, causing it to faint, miraculously.   
"Ding, Charmander learned Leer," the Pokedex said.   
"Wow, level 15," Eric said, "You'll evolve into Charmeleon soon!"   
"Char!" Charmander said as it was sucked back into the ball.   
"Okay, what now…AAAH! Caterpie!"   
True enough, a Caterpie was racing toward their general direction, chased by another Pidgeotto.   
"All right! I always wanted one," he thought of something. "Caterpie, get in the Pokeball!" he said, pulling out a blue lined Pokeball.   
The Caterpie obviously valued capture over being lunch, so he quickly got in the Pokeball, and the Pidgeotto flew by, blasting at high speed, noted that Ryan had four Pokemon, and left, trying to find another delicacy.   
"Whew, I caught Caterpie!" Ryan yelled.   
Meanwhile, Eric had scrambled up a tall tree. Unfortunately, the branch he was on was very fragile and it broke.   
"DANG IT!!!" Eric yelled as he quickly grabbed another branch.   
Unfortunately again, a rather large, rather hairy, rather slimy Weedle was living on that branch. It crawled up to Eric, slimed its way over his fingers, and plopped itself onto Eric's head.   
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Eric yelled as he fell from the branch, to absorbed in getting the Weedle off his head than holding onto the branch.   
_CRASH!_ They landed in the foliage.   
"Get offa me!" Eric threw a Pokeball at it to shoo it. Another unfortunately, Weedle was caught.   
"Oh, great. I caught this ugly, slimy, hairy bug."   
"Oh, yeah," Ryan said, "You get all the luck."   
Eric responded by knocking him over the head.   
Eric summoned Weedle. Weedle started to eat some of the grass.   
"Well, go! You're free! Free as a bird!," as Eric said this Weedle ducked his tiny little head under his suction cup like feet in fear, terrified of an aerial attack from anything larger than a twig, "Well I didn't mean it like **that**! I'm releasing you! Now go on. Git!"   
Unfortunately, the Weedle didn't want to leave and it nuzzled Eric's leg to show it.   
"Gee Eric. He seems to like you a lot." Ryan said.   
Ryan was once again clonked on the head with a blunt object.   
"Will you stop doing that!" Ryan yelled.   
"Let me see…" Eric concentrated hard, "I foresee that I shall once again do this in the distant future."   
"Yeah right. Now tell me the one about the three bears."   
Eric once again whacked Ryan on the head with the same blunt object.   
Eric, trying to be nice, picked Weedle up and said, "How are you feeling about your new Master?"   
Weedle string shot Eric's entire head.   
"I see," Eric said in a muffled voice as Weedle jumped out of his hands to continue eating some grass.   
Ryan removed the string from Eric's head with a spatula, as Eric recalled Weedle.   
"Great, it's smart, so it's staying with me to torture me forevermore!"   
"Quoth the Weedle, nevermore," Ryan commented.   
"NO MORE EDGAR ALLAN POE REFERENCES!!!!"   
"Okay…While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a…zapping?" Ryan saw a flash of light, "as if a… Pikachu!"   
Ryan had flushed out a Pikachu.   
"All right, a Pikachu, I'll capture it! Seel, I choose you!"   
The Seel appeared.   
"No!" Eric cried.   
"What, it's a water type. Water's good against electric, right?"   
Eric facefaulted.   
"Seel, headbutt!"   
Seel headbutted. Pikachu reacted with a growl.   
"Headbutt again!"   
This time, Pikachu countered with a Thundershock.   
"One last headbutt!"   
Pikachu's health dropped to nearly zero.   
"Pokeball, go!"   
In a matter of seconds, Pikachu was caught.   
"All right! Two Pokemon in one day!"   
"Bravo, bravo," two trainers from behind them said.   
"Huh?" Ryan asked.   
Two trainers, unbelievably dressed as Samurais, one wearing red armor, one wearing blue, came out.   
"We challenge you," Red said.   
"Fine," Eric said. "It's your funeral."   
"I take the blue freak, you take the red freak," Ryan said.   
"Hey!" the Samurais said.   
"Well, I don't know who else in the year 1999 would dress as a _samurai_!"   
"It's a distinctive look."   
"Some fashion statement," Eric said.   
Eric's battle went first. "Charmander, go!"   
"Char!"   
"Scyther, I choose you!" The Samurai cried.   
"Scyther!"   
"Charmander, Ember!"   
"Scyther, Quick Attack!"   
Before Charmander could throw the fireball at Scyther, Scyther ran up to it and hit Charmander with its sharp blade like arms. The hit made Charmander recoil about a foot away. Then, goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! Scyther was embered. Scyther was too strong though. He was barely damaged.   
"Now use Slash," the Samurai ordered.   
Scyther, with his blade like arms, cut Charmander really bad that it cried before it fainted.   
"Yes!" the Samurai said, "One hit KO! I am the champion! I am the champion! No time for **losers** 'cause I am the champion!"   
"Ugh! He reminds me of Craig," Ryan said out loud.   
"Oh him," the other Samurai said, "You're referring to the traitor whose ass got whooped."   
"By who?" Ryan asked.   
"Me!" the red Samurai said.   
"Good. At least you're useful for something." Ryan responded.   
"I can't believe that you can be so cruel. I can't believe that you care more about winning than the health of another Pokemon." Eric inherited a strong sense of compassion from his mother.   
"Hey! Winning is all that matters! Who cares about your weak and dumb Charmander!" the Samurai started to laugh.   
Eric used a Revive to bring Charmander back, but it wasn't working.   
"Why won't this thing work! Work dang you! Work! Huh? 'Do not use if plastic seal is broken.' Doh! Charmander! Stay away from the light! Don't you die on me! Don't you leave me!"   
Suddenly, Charmander started to evolve! It got up, ready to battle. Unfortunately, it forgot that it was bleeding.   
"Charmeleon! You're in no condition to fight! Take this," Eric handed a Super Potion to Charmeleon.   
Charmeleon looked at the concoction strangely.   
"You drink it!" everyone yelled.   
"Char!" Charmeleon started to drink the Super Potion.   
Charmeleon was back in action.   
Scyther used Double Team.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
Scyther used Swords Dance.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
Scyther used Slash.   
Both Pokemon were badly damaged, but none of them would let the other win. Suddenly, there was a flash storm. It started to come down hard. Charmeleon's tail was nearly doused, his power was depleting, and he was becoming weaker by the second.   
"Charmeleon, return!"   
Charmeleon jumped away from the red beam. He wanted to finish this battle. With his last once of strength he used Flamethrower on Scyther. Somehow Charmeleon used an attack beyond his level. Scyther fainted and so did Charmeleon. Eric then recalled Charmeleon into its Pokeball.   
The next Pokemon was called out for both sides. Eric summoned Weedle as the red Samurai summoned Kakuna.   
Kakuna used Harden when he was told.   
"Weedle use Poison Sting," Eric commanded.   
Weedle just loafed around.   
"Ha!" both Samurais laughed, "Looks like you need to improve as a trainer. Even your own Pokemon thinks you're lousy."   
"Weedle," Eric pleaded, "Please beat this Kakuna."   
The Weedle turned it's head away from Eric.   
"Please, Weedle. I'll let you eat all the grass you want if you would just beat Kakuna."   
"Wee!" the hairy bug exclaimed.   
It charged at the cocoon at such a high speed that the Pokemon was hurtled into the trainer's face. Kakuna was poisoned, but not beat. It used Harden once again. Unfortunately, it was at 1 life and it fainted from the poison.   
"Yes," Eric exclaimed, "One hit KO! Now you know how it feels! Oh yeah, here."   
Eric tossed two Revives to the red Samurai.   
"Okay, Okay," Ryan said. "It's my turn now."   
"Pinsir, go!" the blue Samurai yelled.   
The stag beetle Pokemon groaned in anticipation.   
"Oh, I get it, Pinsir is a blue Pokemon, and Scyther is its red equivalent. That's why you wear blue and he wears red. Since he had a Kakuna, a red Pokemon, I'm guessing you also have a Metapod," Ryan thoughtfully said.   
"Oh, bravo, Mr. Big-Giant-Convoluted-Theory," Everyone else said. Even the Pinsir seemed to groan in unison.   
Ryan debated which Pokemon to use. _Pikachu's to weak from my capturing it,_ Ryan thought, s_ending Caterpie would be suicide, Bulbasaur's weak against the Pinsir's bug attacks, I'll leave Seel as backup, but my first line of defense should be my level 17, freakishly powerful, flying-type, strong-against-bug-types…_   
"Pidgey! I choose you!" Ryan called out his Pidgey, a pigeon/hawk with a determined look on its face.   
"Brrrrrrrrrr-dgey!" It called.   
"Pidgey, Gust!"   
"Pinsir, ViceGrip!"   
A long, hard battle erupted between the giant beetle, and Ryan's Pidgey, who bore a rage similar to that of Eric's Charmeleon, but, during the fight, Pidgey fell to the ground, its HP at a low.   
"Pidgey!" Ryan yelled as he dove to protect the bird.   
"Dgey!" It cried, trying to get back in the fight.   
"Pidgey, you're to weak to take on that Pinsir alone. Come on, I'll use Seel for this one, you'll be fine.   
"Brrr! Dgey!" It said, obviously translated as "No! Way!"   
"Come on, you'd have to at least be a Pidgeotto to-"   
As soon as Ryan said "Pidgeotto," Pidgey turned to the Pinsir and started to glow. It grew to twice his size. Its crest grew larger. It grew an extra claw on each talon. The glowing stopped.   
Pidgey evolved into Pidgeotto.   
"Pidgey!" Ryan cried, "you evolved!"   
At that, Pidgeotto proceeded to Quick Attack the Pinsir until it was clinically dead.   
"Pinsir, return," the Samurai cried. When the dead bug did not recall, he freaked. "AAAH! #@&%! You killed my Pinsir!"   
"My Pidgeotto didn't do that under my commands," Ryan said. "He was just angry. The adrenaline just forced him to kill it. Same reason Eric's Charmeleon used Flamethrower. The adrenaline tweaked his brain into using an attack it didn't know. My Pidgeotto just evolved, so-"   
"I don't need your scientific mumbo-jumbo, I just want my **fine money** for the **life of my Pinsir**!"   
"Oh, yes, there's a fine for that sort of thing. Okay, according to my Pokedex here, I owe you…hmmm…got change for a dime?"   
"*Sigh!* Yes," the Samurai said, unearthing a nickel and muttering something about upping the fine on killing of Pokemon in a battle. "Metapod, go," He said, dramatically less enthusiastic manner.   
Pidgeotto just Quick Attacked the Metapod, KOing it in one fell swoop.   
The depressed Samurais drudged their way into the forest.   
"That was easy," Ryan said, recalling Pidgeotto.   
Suddenly, an annoyingly loud and strangely familiar feminine cackle rang through the forest.   
"Hah, hah, hah! This kid's _definitely_ worth our trouble," the voice said.   
"He'll make an excellent addition to Team Rocket," a masculine voice said.   
"And the Boss'll really be pleased with us!" a strange voice with a New Jersey accent said.   
"Oh great," Ryan said, "It's the Three Stooges."   
A Meowth jumped from the bushes and proceeded to scratch Ryan's face.   
"Never, never, never refer us ta dose guys, **EVER**!"   
"Anyway, to protect the world from devastation!" the female yelled.   
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" the male yelled.   
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."   
"To extend our reach to the stars above."   
"Jessie!"   
Jessie smacked Ryan upside the head for the Stooges comment.   
"James!"   
James mimicked his partner's actions.   
"What is it? 'Pick-On-Ryan Day?" Ryan asked, rubbing his head.   
"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" Eric yelled.   
Team Rocket rolled over in laughter.   
"I would've said 'brain equivalent,' but that would be like swatting a fly with a Buick," Eric said in his own defense.   
"Shut up. Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"   
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"   
"Meowth! That's right!"   
Ryan sighed.   
"If you're quite done, Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
Ryan's Bulbasaur appeared.   
"Vine Whip 'em away!"   
"Bulba!" The flower frog's vines were about to hit, when a net dropped on it.   
"Saur!" as Bulbasaur tried to escape, the ropes let off a burning sensation.   
"Bulbasaur! No! Pikachu, gnaw Bulbasaur out of that net!" Ryan's Pikachu came out.   
"Chuuuu," it cried.   
"Oh, I almost forgot, here!" Ryan threw Pikachu a Hyper Potion. It drank the concoction, and set to work on the net.   
"Ya won't get away _dat_ easy!" Meowth Mega Kicked the Pikachu, sending it flying into a concealed hole in the ground. James fished Ryan's Pikachu out in a net.   
"Pidgeotto, get Pikachu and Bulbasaur!" Ryan's Pidgeotto appeared and was able to catch Pikachu in its talons..   
"Ekans, Poison Sting!" Jesse called out her Ekans, which Poison Stinged not Pidgeotto, but Pikachu. In a reaction, Pikachu let out a Thundershock, but it turned out the net was made of metal, so the electricity shocked Pidgeotto, not Ekans. The two Pokemon were caught in a larger net.   
"Hey!" Eric exclaimed, "Don't I get a say in this?"   
"No! Where not after you we're after this kid," Team Rocket shouted back.   
Eric in a furious rage punched James square in the face.   
"Ouch!" James said, "That _almost_ hurt."   
James retaliated by punching Eric 10 times harder in the stomach.   
"Now that's _got_ to hurt!" Ryan wisecracked.   
Eric slunk to the ground, spitting blood.   
"Medic! Medic! Is there a doctor in the forest?" Eric joked knowing the end may be near.   
"I'm a doctor," said a strange bearded man.   
"Oh, Hi Dr. Kevorkian!" said everyone.   
"Okay I'm pissed now!" yelled Ryan, "Seel, Caterpie, I choose you!"   
The bug and seal were caught in another net.   
"Crikey, what is **WITH** you and the nets?" Ryan asked.   
Eric somehow got up and he was glowing. His eyes were glowing red and it looked as if he was possessed. Jessie in fear ordered Ekans to use Poison Sting on Eric. The Pokemon did so. The pins tipped with poison stopped a millimeter from Eric's face. He redirected them towards Ekans. Then Eric's hand started to glow. A large glowing ball covered his hand. Then Eric pointed his hand towards Team Rocket. The ball soon turned into a beam and hit a tree near them. It soon exploded, sending Jessie, James, Meowth, and their Pokemon to the next county. Unfortunately, the stooges let go of Ryan's Pokemon while being blasted.   
"Team Rocket is blasting off!"   
"Hey! That's my line!" Ryan yelled, "Oh well. Hey, Eric thanks for opening a can a Whoop Ass on them."   
"A can of Whoop Ass?" Eric said, "You watch too many late night cartoons."   
"Huh? Don't you remember anything?"   
"Not really. Wait it's coming back to me… YES!"   
"What, what?!"   
"Medic! Medic!"   
With that Ryan dragged his fallen friend to Pewter City, hoping to find a hospital.   
But…all was not well.   
"Aaaah! Snake!"   
"No, Eric, that's a branch."   
"Oh, Aaaah! Snake!"   
"No, that's the same branch again."   
"Oh, Aaaah! Snake!"   
"Eric, THAT'S. THE. SAME. @#$%ING. BRANCH. AGAIN!"   
"Oh, sorry. Aaaah! Snake!"   
"I'm not even going to bother."   
"Aaaah! Snake!"   
"Are you going to do this all the way to Pewter City?"   
Eric responded by yelling "Aaaah! Snake!" 

Traveling the Same Path 103: Eric's Hidden Fear 

It was a beautiful day out. The sun, the sky, the trees, and lastly, the bug Pokemon. For Ryan, it was a dream come true, for Eric, it was his worst nightmare. Eric hated bugs, mostly because he was psychic, and the Viridian Forest was crawling with bugs. But, Ryan mostly put Eric's cries for help at every Caterpie or Weedle he saw, and tried to enjoy the forest.   
I hate bugs, I hate bugs, I hate bugs…Eric silently chanted.   
"AAAGH, what's that!?" Eric cried.   
"That's a shadow of a tree branch," Ryan calmly said.   
"Oh, WHAT WAS THAT!!??"   
"What was what?"   
"I thought I saw something rustling in the bushes."   
Then, a Pidgeotto jumped from the bushes.   
"Eric, it's just a Pidgeotto," said Ryan.   
"Okay, this should be a piece of cake," Eric, returning to his normal, fearless self, pushed Ryan aside.   
Eric threw a Pokeball, out came Charmander.   
"Charmander, Ember now!"   
"Char, Char," a ball of fire grew from Charmander's tail, hit the Pidgeotto, spread over Pidgeotto's body, and burned it, causing it to faint, miraculously.   
"Ding, Charmander learned Leer," the Pokedex said.   
"Wow, level 15," Eric said, "You'll evolve into Charmeleon soon!"   
"Char!" Charmander said as it was sucked back into the ball.   
"Okay, what now…AAAH! Caterpie!"   
True enough, a Caterpie was racing toward their general direction, chased by another Pidgeotto.   
"All right! I always wanted one," he thought of something. "Caterpie, get in the Pokeball!" he said, pulling out a blue lined Pokeball.   
The Caterpie obviously valued capture over being lunch, so he quickly got in the Pokeball, and the Pidgeotto flew by, blasting at high speed, noted that Ryan had four Pokemon, and left, trying to find another delicacy.   
"Whew, I caught Caterpie!" Ryan yelled.   
Meanwhile, Eric had scrambled up a tall tree. Unfortunately, the branch he was on was very fragile and it broke.   
"DANG IT!!!" Eric yelled as he quickly grabbed another branch.   
Unfortunately again, a rather large, rather hairy, rather slimy Weedle was living on that branch. It crawled up to Eric, slimed its way over his fingers, and plopped itself onto Eric's head.   
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Eric yelled as he fell from the branch, to absorbed in getting the Weedle off his head than holding onto the branch.   
CRASH! They landed in the foliage.   
"Get offa me!" Eric threw a Pokeball at it to shoo it. Another unfortunately, Weedle was caught.   
"Oh, great. I caught this ugly, slimy, hairy bug."   
"Oh, yeah," Ryan said, "You get all the luck."   
Eric responded by knocking him over the head.   
Eric summoned Weedle. Weedle started to eat some of the grass.   
"Well, go! You're free! Free as a bird!," as Eric said this Weedle ducked his tiny little head under his suction cup like feet in fear, terrified of an aerial attack from anything larger than a twig, "Well I didn't mean it like that! I'm releasing you! Now go on. Git!"   
Unfortunately, the Weedle didn't want to leave and it nuzzled Eric's leg to show it.   
"Gee Eric. He seems to like you a lot." Ryan said.   
Ryan was once again clonked on the head with a blunt object.   
"Will you stop doing that!" Ryan yelled.   
"Let me see…" Eric concentrated hard, "I foresee that I shall once again do this in the distant future."   
"Yeah right. Now tell me the one about the three bears."   
Eric once again whacked Ryan on the head with the same blunt object.   
Eric, trying to be nice, picked Weedle up and said, "How are you feeling about your new Master?"   
Weedle string shot Eric's entire head.   
"I see," Eric said in a muffled voice as Weedle jumped out of his hands to continue eating some grass.   
Ryan removed the string from Eric's head with a spatula, as Eric recalled Weedle.   
"Great, it's smart, so it's staying with me to torture me forevermore!"   
"Quoth the Weedle, nevermore," Ryan commented.   
"NO MORE EDGAR ALLAN POE REFERENCES!!!!"   
"Okay…While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a…zapping?" Ryan saw a flash of light, "as if a… Pikachu!"   
Ryan had flushed out a Pikachu.   
"All right, a Pikachu, I'll capture it! Seel, I choose you!"   
The Seel appeared.   
"No!" Eric cried.   
"What, it's a water type. Water's good against electric, right?"   
Eric facefaulted.   
"Seel, headbutt!"   
Seel headbutted. Pikachu reacted with a growl.   
"Headbutt again!"   
This time, Pikachu countered with a Thundershock.   
"One last headbutt!"   
Pikachu's health dropped to nearly zero.   
"Pokeball, go!"   
In a matter of seconds, Pikachu was caught.   
"All right! Two Pokemon in one day!"   
"Bravo, bravo," two trainers from behind them said.   
"Huh?" Ryan asked.   
Two trainers, unbelievably dressed as Samurais, one wearing red armor, one wearing blue, came out.   
"We challenge you," Red said.   
"Fine," Eric said. "It's your funeral."   
"I take the blue freak, you take the red freak," Ryan said.   
"Hey!" the Samurais said.   
"Well, I don't know who else in the year 1999 would dress as a samurai!"   
"It's a distinctive look."   
"Some fashion statement," Eric said.   
Eric's battle went first. "Charmander, go!"   
"Char!"   
"Scyther, I choose you!" The Samurai cried.   
"Scyther!"   
"Charmander, Ember!"   
"Scyther, Quick Attack!"   
Before Charmander could throw the fireball at Scyther, Scyther ran up to it and hit Charmander with its sharp blade like arms. The hit made Charmander recoil about a foot away. Then, goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! Scyther was embered. Scyther was too strong though. He was barely damaged.   
"Now use Slash," the Samurai ordered.   
Scyther, with his blade like arms, cut Charmander really bad that it cried before it fainted.   
"Yes!" the Samurai said, "One hit KO! I am the champion! I am the champion! No time for losers 'cause I am the champion!"   
"Ugh! He reminds me of Craig," Ryan said out loud.   
"Oh him," the other Samurai said, "You're referring to the traitor whose ass got whooped."   
"By who?" Ryan asked.   
"Me!" the red Samurai said.   
"Good. At least you're useful for something." Ryan responded.   
"I can't believe that you can be so cruel. I can't believe that you care more about winning than the health of another Pokemon." Eric inherited a strong sense of compassion from his mother.   
"Hey! Winning is all that matters! Who cares about your weak and dumb Charmander!" the Samurai started to laugh.   
Eric used a Revive to bring Charmander back, but it wasn't working.   
"Why won't this thing work! Work dang you! Work! Huh? 'Do not use if plastic seal is broken.' Doh! Charmander! Stay away from the light! Don't you die on me! Don't you leave me!"   
Suddenly, Charmander started to evolve! It got up, ready to battle. Unfortunately, it forgot that it was bleeding.   
"Charmeleon! You're in no condition to fight! Take this," Eric handed a Super Potion to Charmeleon.   
Charmeleon looked at the concoction strangely.   
"You drink it!" everyone yelled.   
"Char!" Charmeleon started to drink the Super Potion.   
Charmeleon was back in action.   
Scyther used Double Team.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
Scyther used Swords Dance.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
Scyther used Slash.   
Both Pokemon were badly damaged, but none of them would let the other win. Suddenly, there was a flash storm. It started to come down hard. Charmeleon's tail was nearly doused, his power was depleting, and he was becoming weaker by the second.   
"Charmeleon, return!"   
Charmeleon jumped away from the red beam. He wanted to finish this battle. With his last once of strength he used Flamethrower on Scyther. Somehow Charmeleon used an attack beyond his level. Scyther fainted and so did Charmeleon. Eric then recalled Charmeleon into its Pokeball.   
The next Pokemon was called out for both sides. Eric summoned Weedle as the red Samurai summoned Kakuna.   
Kakuna used Harden when he was told.   
"Weedle use Poison Sting," Eric commanded.   
Weedle just loafed around.   
"Ha!" both Samurais laughed, "Looks like you need to improve as a trainer. Even your own Pokemon thinks you're lousy."   
"Weedle," Eric pleaded, "Please beat this Kakuna."   
The Weedle turned it's head away from Eric.   
"Please, Weedle. I'll let you eat all the grass you want if you would just beat Kakuna."   
"Wee!" the hairy bug exclaimed.   
It charged at the cocoon at such a high speed that the Pokemon was hurtled into the trainer's face. Kakuna was poisoned, but not beat. It used Harden once again. Unfortunately, it was at 1 life and it fainted from the poison.   
"Yes," Eric exclaimed, "One hit KO! Now you know how it feels! Oh yeah, here."   
Eric tossed two Revives to the red Samurai.   
"Okay, Okay," Ryan said. "It's my turn now."   
"Pinsir, go!" the blue Samurai yelled.   
The stag beetle Pokemon groaned in anticipation.   
"Oh, I get it, Pinsir is a blue Pokemon, and Scyther is its red equivalent. That's why you wear blue and he wears red. Since he had a Kakuna, a red Pokemon, I'm guessing you also have a Metapod," Ryan thoughtfully said.   
"Oh, bravo, Mr. Big-Giant-Convoluted-Theory," Everyone else said. Even the Pinsir seemed to groan in unison.   
Ryan debated which Pokemon to use. Pikachu's to weak from my capturing it, Ryan thought, sending Caterpie would be suicide, Bulbasaur's weak against the Pinsir's bug attacks, I'll leave Seel as backup, but my first line of defense should be my level 17, freakishly powerful, flying-type, strong-against-bug-types…   
"Pidgey! I choose you!" Ryan called out his Pidgey, a pigeon/hawk with a determined look on its face.   
"Brrrrrrrrrr-dgey!" It called.   
"Pidgey, Gust!"   
"Pinsir, ViceGrip!"   
A long, hard battle erupted between the giant beetle, and Ryan's Pidgey, who bore a rage similar to that of Eric's Charmeleon, but, during the fight, Pidgey fell to the ground, its HP at a low.   
"Pidgey!" Ryan yelled as he dove to protect the bird.   
"Dgey!" It cried, trying to get back in the fight.   
"Pidgey, you're to weak to take on that Pinsir alone. Come on, I'll use Seel for this one, you'll be fine.   
"Brrr! Dgey!" It said, obviously translated as "No! Way!"   
"Come on, you'd have to at least be a Pidgeotto to-"   
As soon as Ryan said "Pidgeotto," Pidgey turned to the Pinsir and started to glow. It grew to twice his size. Its crest grew larger. It grew an extra claw on each talon. The glowing stopped.   
Pidgey evolved into Pidgeotto.   
"Pidgey!" Ryan cried, "you evolved!"   
At that, Pidgeotto proceeded to Quick Attack the Pinsir until it was clinically dead.   
"Pinsir, return," the Samurai cried. When the dead bug did not recall, he freaked. "AAAH! #@&%! You killed my Pinsir!"   
"My Pidgeotto didn't do that under my commands," Ryan said. "He was just angry. The adrenaline just forced him to kill it. Same reason Eric's Charmeleon used Flamethrower. The adrenaline tweaked his brain into using an attack it didn't know. My Pidgeotto just evolved, so-"   
"I don't need your scientific mumbo-jumbo, I just want my fine money for the life of my Pinsir!"   
"Oh, yes, there's a fine for that sort of thing. Okay, according to my Pokedex here, I owe you…hmmm…got change for a dime?"   
"*Sigh!* Yes," the Samurai said, unearthing a nickel and muttering something about upping the fine on killing of Pokemon in a battle. "Metapod, go," He said, dramatically less enthusiastic manner.   
Pidgeotto just Quick Attacked the Metapod, KOing it in one fell swoop.   
The depressed Samurais drudged their way into the forest.   
"That was easy," Ryan said, recalling Pidgeotto.   
Suddenly, an annoyingly loud and strangely familiar feminine cackle rang through the forest.   
"Hah, hah, hah! This kid's definitely worth our trouble," the voice said.   
"He'll make an excellent addition to Team Rocket," a masculine voice said.   
"And the Boss'll really be pleased with us!" a strange voice with a New Jersey accent said.   
"Oh great," Ryan said, "It's the Three Stooges."   
A Meowth jumped from the bushes and proceeded to scratch Ryan's face.   
"Never, never, never refer us ta dose guys, EVER!"   
"Anyway, to protect the world from devastation!" the female yelled.   
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" the male yelled.   
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."   
"To extend our reach to the stars above."   
"Jessie!"   
Jessie smacked Ryan upside the head for the Stooges comment.   
"James!"   
James mimicked his partner's actions.   
"What is it? 'Pick-On-Ryan Day?" Ryan asked, rubbing his head.   
"Hey, pick on someone your own size!" Eric yelled.   
Team Rocket rolled over in laughter.   
"I would've said 'brain equivalent,' but that would be like swatting a fly with a Buick," Eric said in his own defense.   
"Shut up. Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"   
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"   
"Meowth! That's right!"   
Ryan sighed.   
"If you're quite done, Bulbasaur, I choose you!"   
Ryan's Bulbasaur appeared.   
"Vine Whip 'em away!"   
"Bulba!" The flower frog's vines were about to hit, when a net dropped on it.   
"Saur!" as Bulbasaur tried to escape, the ropes let off a burning sensation.   
"Bulbasaur! No! Pikachu, gnaw Bulbasaur out of that net!" Ryan's Pikachu came out.   
"Chuuuu," it cried.   
"Oh, I almost forgot, here!" Ryan threw Pikachu a Hyper Potion. It drank the concoction, and set to work on the net.   
"Ya won't get away dat easy!" Meowth Mega Kicked the Pikachu, sending it flying into a concealed hole in the ground. James fished Ryan's Pikachu out in a net.   
"Pidgeotto, get Pikachu and Bulbasaur!" Ryan's Pidgeotto appeared and was able to catch Pikachu in its talons..   
"Ekans, Poison Sting!" Jesse called out her Ekans, which Poison Stinged not Pidgeotto, but Pikachu. In a reaction, Pikachu let out a Thundershock, but it turned out the net was made of metal, so the electricity shocked Pidgeotto, not Ekans. The two Pokemon were caught in a larger net.   
"Hey!" Eric exclaimed, "Don't I get a say in this?"   
"No! Where not after you we're after this kid," Team Rocket shouted back.   
Eric in a furious rage punched James square in the face.   
"Ouch!" James said, "That almost hurt."   
James retaliated by punching Eric 10 times harder in the stomach.   
"Now that's got to hurt!" Ryan wisecracked.   
Eric slunk to the ground, spitting blood.   
"Medic! Medic! Is there a doctor in the forest?" Eric joked knowing the end may be near.   
"I'm a doctor," said a strange bearded man.   
"Oh, Hi Dr. Kevorkian!" said everyone.   
"Okay I'm pissed now!" yelled Ryan, "Seel, Caterpie, I choose you!"   
The bug and seal were caught in another net.   
"Crikey, what is WITH you and the nets?" Ryan asked.   
Eric somehow got up and he was glowing. His eyes were glowing red and it looked as if he was possessed. Jessie in fear ordered Ekans to use Poison Sting on Eric. The Pokemon did so. The pins tipped with poison stopped a millimeter from Eric's face. He redirected them towards Ekans. Then Eric's hand started to glow. A large glowing ball covered his hand. Then Eric pointed his hand towards Team Rocket. The ball soon turned into a beam and hit a tree near them. It soon exploded, sending Jessie, James, Meowth, and their Pokemon to the next county. Unfortunately, the stooges let go of Ryan's Pokemon while being blasted.   
"Team Rocket is blasting off!"   
"Hey! That's my line!" Ryan yelled, "Oh well. Hey, Eric thanks for opening a can a Whoop Ass on them."   
"A can of Whoop Ass?" Eric said, "You watch too many late night cartoons."   
"Huh? Don't you remember anything?"   
"Not really. Wait it's coming back to me… YES!"   
"What, what?!"   
"Medic! Medic!"   
With that Ryan dragged his fallen friend to Pewter City, hoping to find a hospital.   
But…all was not well.   
"Aaaah! Snake!"   
"No, Eric, that's a branch."   
"Oh, Aaaah! Snake!"   
"No, that's the same branch again."   
"Oh, Aaaah! Snake!"   
"Eric, THAT'S. THE. SAME. @#$%ING. BRANCH. AGAIN!"   
"Oh, sorry. Aaaah! Snake!"   
"I'm not even going to bother."   
"Aaaah! Snake!"   
"Are you going to do this all the way to Pewter City?"   
Eric responded by yelling "Aaaah! Snake!"   
  



	4. Episode 4: Clefairy's Power

Here's number four. Hope you like it. Again, co-written by me and Eric. 

**Traveling the Same Path 104: Clefairy's Power**

Ryan arrived at Pewter City dragging a very delusional Eric. He had been punched in the stomach and then was weakened by using a Hyper Beam, a move he could use because of his psychic capabilities. Ryan dragged his friend to the hospital. He had to wait for Eric in the Waiting Room.   
"Ahh! Death! Ahh! Death!" Eric screamed all the way down the hall.   
_Only a few more minutes. Only ten more agonizing minutes. Then the doctor will have to deal with him. Only TEN…_, Ryan thought.   
"Oh the hell with it. WHERE ARE YOU DR. HOBA!" Ryan yelled.   
"I'm right here Mr. Catcatch. Please calm down, you're disrupting the other patients." Dr. Hoba silenced him.   
Dr. Hoba was a good college student in the University of Yale. He took a course in Dealing with Psychic Patients, which he earned a Master's Degree in. He came from China with his mother and sister until they were departed. After that day forward Dr. Hoba never saw his family again and he swore that he would become the best damn doctor in America even if it killed him. Of course this isn't really important to the story, but we have to fill a half an hour of reading.   
"Thank goodness you're here Doctor. I had to spend three hours dragging along a scared and weakened and delusional Eric. I tell ya it was **NOT** delightful," Ryan explained.   
"All right, just sit down, Mr. Catcatch. I'll be done with Mr. Woo in about an hour." (Ryan's Note: Woo is Eric's real last name as much as Catcatch is mine [And it isn't])   
In an hour, Dr. Hoba told Ryan, who was bored to tears; "Your friend is going to be all right, however…"   
"However what?" Ryan asked.   
"His state of weakness is similar to that a Pokemon suffers after using a Hyper Beam."   
"Ooooo-KAY, that would explain a lot."   
"There's just one problem, only two or three psychics ever used Hyper Beam, and not one of them survived."   
"Aaaah! Death!" Eric interrupted.   
"He'll need three or four days before he's completely healed, and when these hallucinations stop."   
"**THE WALLS ARE MELTING AGAIN!!!!**" Eric interrupted.   
"*Sigh* You should check into a hotel or something Mr. Catcatch. This'll be over soon."   
"**HELP ME CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS!!!!**" Eric interrupted once again. 

-----TWO DAYS LATER-----   
  
"Pewter City Museum, admission, 50 cents. That's cheap," Ryan walked into the museum, threw in two quarters, and looked around. He made a beeline for the Pokemon exhibit, and saw the largest, most powerful thing he ever saw. It was a skeleton of an Aerodactyl.   
Ryan was impressed by this colossal fossil. He ran right up to it in awe. The panel read, "Aerodactyl, a rare and prehistoric Pokemon. It was said that Aerodactyl became extinct millions of years ago, when the Earth's climate became much colder and wetter, causing its rock formation to deteriorate."   
"Man, this Pokemon was huge, powerful. I wish I had one," Ryan said.   
A museum employee overheard that. He went to Ryan   
"So, you like Aerodactyl?" he said.   
Ryan's first response was not to say "Yes." Ryan's first response was to grab Pidgeotto's Pokeball and hold it defensively and threaten to throttle him if he came too close.   
"Hold it kid, Hold it. I'm not here to kill you or anything. I'm here to make you an offer."   
Ryan relaxed, but still kept a strong grip on the Pokeball.   
"You see, kid, we have the power to bring Aerodactyl back. This old Amber," he held out a small yellow rock, "contains crystallized Aerodactyl blood. My colleagues laugh, saying there is no way we can clone this into a living, breathing Aerodactyl. There is some truth to that, there's no way _we_ can clone it, but there is a lab in Cinnabar…they could do it. But I can't go there. I'm asking you to get it cloned when you reach the island. After you prove me right, I'll let you keep the Aerodactyl. What do you say?"   
Ryan thought for a minute, then said, "All right. What have I got to lose?" He held out his gloved hand studded with rhinestones.   
The yellow rock was placed in his hand.   
"You won't regret this. With that Aerodactyl, you could become big," the man walked away.   
Ryan put the rock in his Aerobag and went upstairs to the second floor of the Museum. There he saw a large… **MOON STONE!** He was amazed by the sight. Never has he seen such a large chunk of rock. A man dressed as a scientist saw him and went over to talk to him.   
"I see you're interested in the large Moon Stone. We recovered it during a long and hard expedition. While recovering this rock some fragments were dropped. We were forced to leave them because the Pokemon residents were upset and they started to attack us. I want to strike you a deal you cannot refuse," he said.   
"And that would be…?" Ryan asked.   
"I'm willing to let you buy this Stone for the low, low, low, low price of 50 dollars with a receipt. I usually charge 10 dollars, but it's on sale."   
"You don't say."   
"I do say."   
"All right then. When are you going to get some guys to help me break this thing?"   
"That's your problem kid. Here's your receipt."   
"Gee thanks."   
Ryan took the receipt as the man took off.   
"Hmm. He forgot to take my money, oh well."   
Ryan figured that he could use his Pokemon to help crack this Rock. He took a Pokeball from his belt and threw it on the ground.   
"Seel, I choose you!" Ryan bellowed.   
"Seel, Seel," the Pokemon clapped its flippers.   
"Seel, use headbutt!" Ryan commanded.   
The water Pokemon obeyed and headbutted the Moon Stone several times creating a large crack. Although the other tourists watched in horror as the great Moon Stone was being destroyed, one brave soul called the cops. The rock was split into two by the time the cops came by. Ryan was arrested on the spot, mainly because it isn't hard to miss a guy who is destroying a large hunk of rock and his orange suit seemed to scream "arrest me!"   
"What are you doing? I bought this Moon Stone fair and square. See this receipt?" Ryan handed the receipt to the female officer.   
"Let me see this," the female officer took the receipt and held it to the light, "It says here 'Ha ha ha ha ha! You've been gypped. Send my regards to Bruno in jail for me.' That's no receipt. You're under arrest."   
"Time to search you," the officer said.   
"But why?" Ryan asked.   
"To see if you've stolen anything else."   
"Oooooooo-KAY!"   
"There's a fine for insulting an officer you know."   
"Uhhg. There's a fine for about anything."   
The officer searched his aerobag to reveal the Old Amber.   
"What's this? Another stolen object?"   
"No you don't understand. That was given to me by a person who works here."   
"Yeah right. That's what they all say."   
Ryan was brought into the station where he was locked up in jail. Meanwhile, Eric was still recuperating. Eric dreamed that Ryan was in trouble. With that thought in his head he promised to live through the next few days so he can save his friend. 

-----TWO DAYS LATER----- 

Eric was refreshed and finally free from the hospital, he didn't enjoy being around sick people and having to eat the horrible hospital food. He remembered his last words to Dr. Hoba when he left.   
"Thank God I'm free! Now I'll never have to see you again! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAA!"   
Eric left to help his friend at the station. He got there in no time at all. He opened the door and demanded to see the officer who arrested Ryan.   
"I was the one who arrested Mr. Catcatch," a female officer stood up.   
"I demand that you release my friend Ryan, _IMMEADIATELY_!" Eric yelled.   
"And why should I? You have to pay the bail to release him."   
"If you don't release him _right now_, I'm gonna do something to ya. Something **_bad_**."   
"You better watch what you say to me, there's a fine for threatening an officer."   
"No, you better watch out, because…that's a nice blouse, and I'm a bleeder!"   
She looked at him strangely and said, "Would you like to know the fine?"   
"Certainly Officer…Jenny," he said, concentrating hard.   
"$1,000, in cash."   
Eric's jaw hit the floor.   
"Well, what's Ryan's bail?"   
"For destroying a priceless artifact and stealing another one, $3,000"   
His jaw dropped once again.   
"How do you do that?" Officer Jenny asked.   
"Never mind."   
Suddenly, a man came through the door. It turned out to be the man who gave the Old Amber to Ryan.   
"Wait! Don't execute that boy!"   
"We weren't going to execute him," Officer Jenny said.   
"Oh. Then I'm not needed."   
"Hold it pal!" Ryan said, "You can clear my name. You gave me the Old Amber."   
"I suppose so, but I'm too tired from running over here."   
Everyone in the room facefaulted. Eric decided to rest at a nearby Hotel. The next day, the man from the museum went with Eric to the Police Station.   
"Okay. It's time to tell my story. I remember it as if it were yesterday."   
"Uh. It was yesterday!" Eric told him.   
"Oh that's right! I have a bad memory you know. What's your name again?"   
Everyone facefaulted from the statement. The man told about how the Old Amber was obtained and what he wanted Ryan to do with it. He also told of a man named Seymour. He didn't work at the museum, he was a stray. They fed him, gave him clothes, and gave him a place to stay. Each night he would "sleep over" at one of the museum workers' house. He was a nut case. He would constantly try to persuade people to buy the moon stone each day. As the months flew by the large moon stone got smaller and smaller with each trainer who took the bait of buying the moon stone. Most of them, once their parents bailed them out, quit Pokemon Training because of the traumatic experience.   
"Okay. You are free to go," Officer Jenny said.   
"Yay! I'm free! Free! Free as a bird!" Ryan yelled.   
Eric knocked Ryan over the head with a blunt object. He then bowed, clasping his hands together.   
"Forgiveness, please," Eric said with a thick Chinese accent.   
"Ahm thwee, thwee, thwee isu bhud!" Ryan gibbered as Eric dragged him out of the station.   
The next day, when Ryan came to, they went to earn their first badge.   
The system would be simple: Ryan would go to the Gym first to defeat Brock, because his Bulbasaur would be stronger against Brock's rock types. Eric would raise up his Chameleon and Horsea to fight against Brock.   
Ryan left for the Gym, as Eric left the city.   
Or, more likely, tried to leave.   
He ran up against a youngster, who had tall spiky hair and slitted eyes. He said, "Have you been to Brock's Gym yet?"   
"No, why?"   
"You can't leave the city without fighting Brock, Haven't you read the Pokemon League manual?"   
"It didn't mention anything about not leaving Pewter without battling Brock."   
"Look at this," the youngster showed him a copy of the manual.   
"Listen kid," after reading the Brock portion, "I doubt that the Pokemon League makes last-minute handwritten additions in the margin."   
"Well, if you want to leave the city, you'll have to fight Brock." With that, He grabbed Eric by the shirt collar, and dragged him into the Gym.   
Ryan was in the middle of a fight, as his Bulbasaur was in the middle of Vine whipping an angry Onix. He said, "Uh, Eric, what are you doing here?"   
"To put it in exact words, this kid came and dragged me here, and he said I couldn't leave unless I fought Brock," he took a good look at Brock, "Do you have a younger brother?" he said to Brock.   
"I have six," he said.   
"I think it was one of them."   
"Oy, just tell him to buzz off, they usually pull stunts like this."   
Eric left the Gym hearing a loud THUMP behind him, caused by a fainting Onix.   
He went over to the kid and said "Hey, let me pass!"   
"I told you, you have to fight Brock first."   
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. Bite me."   
Suddenly, the kid ran up and bit Eric's arm.   
"Ow, Ow, I didn't mean literally. Get offa me! That's it! Go, Charmeleon!"   
The dinosaur-like Pokemon came out with a loud "Mel!"   
"Toast this sucker! Ember!"   
"Go, Ekans! Get him!"   
The Ekans appeared.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
Ekans used Wrap.   
Charmeleon broke free and used Scratch.   
Ekans used Poison Sting.   
Charmeleon used Leer.   
Ekans used Leer.   
Charmeleon used Ember and KOed it.   
The youngster sent out a Metapod, but Charmeleon got it in one Ember.   
Then the youngster said "Clefairy, I choose you!"   
A small pink Pokemon came out.   
"What's that?" Eric said. He took out his Pokedex.   
"DING! Clefairy, a fairy Pokemon. This rare and elusive Pokemon is almost never seen by humans. Its special attack is Metronome, learned at level 35."   
"What level is this Clefairy at?"   
"17."   
"Charmeleon, Ember!"   
"Clefairy, Sing!"   
Clefairy sang a very soft and soothing sounding song. Charmeleon was out like a light.   
Eric used an awakening on Charmeleon.   
"All right. Charmeleon use Ember!"   
"Clefairy use Pound."   
Charmeleon used Scratch.   
Clefairy used Pound.   
Charmeleon used Ember.   
"Okay, Clefairy use Metronome!"   
"What? That's impossible it has to be at level 31 to have Metronome!"   
"There's a TM for it idiot."   
"Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy," Clefairy chanted.   
Clefairy used Hydro Pump on Charmeleon. It fainted easily.   
"Charmeleon, return!"   
The dinosaur-like Pokemon went back in the Pokeball. Eric threw down another Pokeball. Out came Horsea!   
"Okay Horsea use Ink Blast!"   
A blast of ink shot at Clefairy and it was blinded.   
Clefairy attempted to use Pound and Metronome, but its aim was off.   
Horsea kept on using Bubble on it.   
With its last ounce of strength, Clefairy used Metronome. It used Explosion. The blast was large, but it wasn't even near Horsea so the effect was non-lethal.   
The youngster threw his final Pokemon out. It was a Sandshrew.   
"This should be easy, Horsea! Don't underestimate him though! Ink Blast!"   
Sandshrew was blinded. It used Slash and it actually hit!   
Horsea retaliated with a Bubble attack.   
Sandshrew used Sand-Attack. Unfortunately it threw it in its trainers eyes instead of Horsea's.   
Horsea finished it off with another Bubble.   
Eric collected his money and rushed to the Pokemon Center. He healed up his Pokemon and ran to the Pewter City Gym. He met up with Ryan, who proudly held his Boulderbadge.   
"Cool! You beat Brock?"   
"Was there any doubt? Besides I've been waiting for you for 15 minutes! I won by the time you left the Gym."   
"That explains the thump I heard when I left."   
"How was that kid?"   
"KOed my Charmeleon, but I showed him. No one calls me an idiot and gets away with it."   
"I think I'll show this kid who's boss. Catch ya later, he, he, he!"   
Ryan got to the intersection where the kid stood. He went up to him and said "I challenge you!"   
"Oh, you do, do you?" He said, "Well, prepare to fry, HA HA HA!"   
"Let's just settle this, If I win, you stop harassing travelers. If I lose, I never come back here. Pikachu, I choose you!"   
"Kachu!" the electric chinchilla yelled as it was called (Ryan's note: I have a chinchilla and I think Pikachus are chinchillas. And there's nothing you can say to make me think otherwise.).   
"Go, Ekans!"   
Pikachu used Thunderwave.   
Ekans was fully paralyzed.   
Thundershock.   
Paralyzed.   
Growl.   
Paralyzed.   
And Finally, Thundershock.   
He sent out Metapod again.   
"Pikachu, Return! Go Caterpie!"   
Metapod used Harden, Caterpie used Tackle. Harden, then Tackle. Harden, then Tackle. Then finally, Harden then Tackle.   
"Good job, Caterpie," Ryan said.   
"Brrrr!" It said. Then it started to glow.   
In ten seconds, Caterpie was a Metapod.   
"Yes! I got Metapod! Metapod, return!"   
He sent out Clefairy, Ryan sent out Bulbasaur. One vine whip got him. If you want to know how the battle with Sandshrew went, well, we have to keep a G rating, so I won't tell you.   
"Good job, Bulbasaur, re – Bulbasaur?" Bulbasaur started to glow, and its petals started to bloom. It was an Ivysaur.   
"YES! Bulbasaur evolved into Ivysaur! Do you still want to obey me?" Ryan asked Ivysaur.   
He responded by jumping on Ryan and licking his face.   
"Okay Ivysaur, I get the point!"   
Eric appeared on the horizon, looking exhausted, but carrying a Boulderbadge.   
"Hey Eric, How'd it go?" Ryan asked.   
"Spearow managed to reach level 10 before fainting, Weedle didn't listen, and got KOd, and Charmeleon didn't last half a nanosecond. At least Horsea survived, barely."   
"Well, just one question, where are we gonna keep these things?"   
"I'm gonna pin mine onto my trenchcoat."   
"Now I wish I'd bought one of those 'Badge Booklets' at the A-P Reserve in Platinum Town. Carole was giving us 75% off! …Hey! The reserve! I got these boots at the reserve!"   
With that, Ryan took the Boulderbadge and pinned it onto his first buckle on his right boot.   
"It fits! I've got eight boot buckles, I'll put eight badges on them!"   
"Well, it's on to Mount Moon!"   
And so, Eric and Ryan head for Mt. Moon, on the way to Cerulean City. But there are many questions about our heroes. What new Pokemon are they going to catch? What new battles are they going to fight? What new enemies are they going to make? Will Eric use Hyper Beam again? Will Ryan resurrect Aerodactyl? Who designs Ryan's clothes? I mean, Ryan, orange jumpsuits, Hellllll-O! The boots and gloves don't help you either. Why is there no word that rhymes with orange? Can a Clefairy understand the concept of orange? Why is the episode called "Clefairy's Power" when Clefairy only appears for like, six paragraphs? There are more questions I could ask, but then I'd be fired for giving away the plot, but the most important question is, will Ryan and Eric become great and powerful trainers, or will they disappear in anonimity like insignificant insects, like those who came before them?   
How should I know?   
  



End file.
